Single Player games going Multiplayer?

[Unbelievably Klane]

There's a disturbing trend I've seen among people I talk to about 'Oh I want X game to have multiplayer' and I am forced to bite my tongue at how stupid some of this sounds. The Elder Scrolls Online has to be the worst MMO I have ever played period, your choices mean nothing, you're locked into areas by race/alignment and it's not even the whole of Tamriel. The city guards are godmode OP and have access to ridiculous f***ing magic menaing theft is nearly impossible (I even used the Kahjit spell that makes you f***ing INVISIBLE and still got caught stealing). With 1mil + "Protagonists" running around you don't feel special like you do in TES1-5, it just doesn't work.

 

One of my friends says Fallout is s*** because 'no multiplayer'. Not even the graphics, or the glitches, or the story, or the gameplay, or the music. THE LACK OF MULTIPLAYER.

 

What?

 

In Fallout, you are a unique character that determines the fate of the whole wasteland you're in. Were it not for the Vault Dwellers actions in FO1, the village of Arroyo would never have been founded, and if not for the Chosen One's actions, it would never have prospered. If not for the Lone Wanderer, the Capital Wasteland would be without clean water. How can you possibly tell a story like that with several hundreds of thousands of 'you' running about? How can any lasting change occur? It simply isn't possible.

 

The two examples of a single player game turned MMO that went well that I can think of are FFXIV:Realm Reborn and Phantasy Star Online. Two.

Sad isn't it? With the MOBA/Overwatch and Clones swamping the market right now, I don't think that devs know how to tell stories anymore, or at least, engaging ones that are backed up by good gameplay and mechanics to complement the story. 

 

And even now, more games are being ruined by their multiplayer, Halo 5 and Gears 4 both suffer from their Multiplayer being total ass in that;

A) The matchmaking doesn't work

B) Microtransactions for a game that costs 50 quid at launch.

C) (Gears 4 only) Content being released outside the SEASON PASS!?

 

And for this, their campaigns suffer too. Halo 5 is considered worse than 4 in terms of campaign because it lacks anything fun. Remember Assault on the Control Room from CE? How about Delta Halo from 2? Or the first mission from 3? Lets try Midnight in 4? Or the whole of ODST? Halo 5 has nothing with flair, it's full of drainpipe levels and scripted setpieces with minimal interaction, and this is because devs put more money into Multiplayer than they do the story. I neglect to say campaign because it's somewhat innacurate for Halo.

 

Question for YCM: How many game franchises that you play have suffered because of multiplayer?